electricity and magnetism - 23 titles

Author:  Pierre de Maricourt (13th cent.)
Title/Imprint: De Magnete, seu, Rota Perpetui Motus
iii, [25] leaves : ill. ; 20 cm. (4to); Augsburg , 1558

Pierre, also known as Petrus Peregrinus, wrote this 13th-century account discussing the natural magnet, how a compass is constructed, and how it used in navigation. Only some twenty copies of this book are know to exist.
Signatures: pi4 A-F4.
No printer is listed but the work was possibly printed by Philipp Ulhart according to BM STC German, 1455-1600.

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Author:  Robert Norman (fl. 1590)
Title/Imprint: The new attractiue containing a short discourse of the magnes or loadstone : and amongst other his vertues, of a new discouered secret and subtill propertie, concerning the declination of the needle ...
[96] p. : ill. ; 20 cm. (4to); E. Allde for Hugh Astley: London , 1596

First printed in 1581, this work describes Norman's discovery of magnetic dip or declination. This particular copy was once owned by Silvanus P. Thompson and is missing its title page (supplied in facsimile).
Signatures: A-F8.
Title page lacking, supplied in manusript and in photographic facsimile.
This copy is apparently lacking part 2, A discourse of the variation of the compass by William Borough.

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Author:  William Gilbert (1540-1603)
Title/Imprint: De magnete, magneticisqve corporibvs, et de magno magnete tellure; physiologia noua, plurimis & argumentis, & experimentis demonstrata (On the magnet, magnetic bodies, and the great magnet of the Earth . . .)
8 p.l., 240 p. illus., diagrs. (1 fold.) 28 cm; P. Short: London , 1600

This influential work describes the experiments on electricity and magnetism performed by Gilbert causing him to become known as the father of electrical studies. He was the first to use the terms electrical attraction, electrical force, and magnetic pole. He proposed that compasses act the way they do because the Earth acts as if it were a huge magnet.
Our copy has an armorial binding and shelf mark belonging to the library of H. F. d'Aguesseau, 1668-1751 (Chancellor of France). It also bears the book label and inscription of Abrahamus Francke, as well as the bookplate of Alexis, Ferreol, Perrin, de Sanson, Ecuïer de Marseille (i. e. Félix-Alexis Sanson, fl. 1830).
Signatures: *8 A-V6.

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Author:  Otto von Guericke (1602-1686)
Title/Imprint: Experimenta nova (ut vocantur) magdeburgica de vacuo spatio primùm
8 p. l., 244, [4] p., 1 l. illus., 2 double pl., port., diagrs. 33 cm; J. Janssonium à Waesberge: Amsterdam , 1672

This work (which appears twice in this list) is critical because of its description of the first electric rotary generator. Guericke invented this device that produced static electricity by generating friction against a moving ball of sulfur. This copy was once owned by the noted book collector, Herbert McLean Evans. Also included in the Physics Section, this work describes Guericke's famous 1654 experiment of the "Spheres of Magdedburg." In this experiment he demonstrated how two teams of horses could not pull apart two copper hemispheres that had the air evacuated from their interior and were only held together by air pressure.
Our copy has the bookplates of W. E. Wilson and Herbert McLean Evans.
Signatures: *-**4, A-Hh4. Signature F2 is eroneously signed Ff2.
A single leaf of errata follows the text.

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Author:  Robert Boyle (1627-1691)
Title/Imprint: Experiments, notes, &c., about the mechanical origine or production of divers particular qualities
[576] p. 17 cm.; E. Flesher for R. Davis: London , 1675

The Herald of Science is only one of eleven separate tracts printed in this volume. Each tract has its own special title page and separate paging; the imprint date of the 10th tract is 1676, of the remaining, 1675. This particular tract is considered to be the first book on electricity in English and discusses how electricity is not affected by the vacuum in an air-pump jar. This copy contains extensive manuscript notes by Robert Hooke (Boyle's assistant) who was presented this copy by Henry Oldenburg. It contains various armorial bookplates belonging to the family of Hartwell (William Lee and Sir George Lee); manuscript ex libris of: Joh. Hodgkin; E. A. Parkyn; Dr. Lee.

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Author:  Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Title/Imprint: Experiments and observations on electricity : made at Philadelphia in America
[4], 86, [2] p., [1] folded leaf of plates : ill. ; 24 cm; Printed and sold by E. Cave ...,: London , 1751

Franklin began his experiments on electricity in the 1740s and communicated his results to correspondents in Great Britain. In 1751, these various letters were compiled into this book. The letters described Franklin's work on lighting strikes and lightning rods, and also discussed his positive & negative theory of electrical fluid.
Our copy contains a manuscript note that it was a "Gift of Eric E. De Marsh" to the Burndy Library

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Author:  C. A. (Charles Augustin) Coulomb (1736-1806)
Title/Imprint: Mémoires sur l'électricité et la magnétisme
[2], 569-576, 89-94, 577-638, 421-468, 617-706, 455-506 p., [11] leaves of plates (4 folded) : ill. ; 27 cm. (4to); Chez Bachelier, libraire ...,: Paris , 1789?

This work describes Coulomb's discovery of the law of electrical attraction. Using his new torsion balance, he determined that electrical attraction and repulsion follow an inverse-square law, as did gravity. Our copy was extracted from the "mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences de Paris, publiés dans le années 1785 à 1789, avec planches at tableaux."
Page 486 of the last section is misnumbered 686.

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Author:  Luigi Galvani (1737-1798)
Title/Imprint: De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentarius
58 p., [4] folded leaves of plates : ill. ; 30 cm. (4to); Ex Typographia Instituti Scientiarium: Bologna , 1791

Galvani's article explained his discovery of how electricity caused forgs' legs to twitch. He privately printed 12 copies and sent this one to Alessandro Volta who later used this work to develop his concept of the electric battery.
Our copy is apparently one of twelve reprinted copies of the author's paper as it originally appeared in the transactions of the Bologna Academy; the original volume and page numbers occur on each plate
There is a manuscript note on p. 2 of the paper wrapper: "Ex dono auctoris."
The title leaf (A1) is a cancel; according to the Fulton & Stanton bibliography of Galvani in the M.G. Foley English translation of the commentary, this copy is the reprint [of the original journal article], 2nd issue, 1791 edition (#3).

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Author:  Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)
Title/Imprint: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London v. 90, pt. 2
p. 403-431, [1] folded leaf of plates : ill. ; 29 cm; London , 1800

This article was communicated to the Royal Society of London by Volta, where he described how he had constructed the first electric battery, called a "voltaic pile."

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Author:  Hans Christian Ørsted (1777-1851)
Title/Imprint: Experimenta circa effectum conflictus electrici in acum magneticam
4 p. ; 32 cm; Typis Schultzianis: Copenhagen , 1820

This is one of three known copies of this work in America [as of 1980]. In it, Ørsted discovered that electric current in a wire caused a deflection in a magnetized needle, a phenomenon which was rapidly recognized and inspired the development of electromagnetic theory. This printed version was reprinted from Journal für Chemie und Physik, v. 29 (1820). Our copy contains a typescript letter from Den Polytekniske Laereanstalt (dated 14 Nov. 1930), inserted. It is possible that our copy is a presentation of the original copy of this article.

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Author:  André-Marie Ampère (1775-1836)
Title/Imprint: Mémoires sur l'action mutelle de deux courans électriques
68 p., 5 leaves of plates (68 p., 5 leaves of plates (1 fold.) : ill. ; 22 cm; Paris , 1822

Within a week of Ørsted's discovery of the elctric effects on a magnetic needle, Ampère prepared this paper that fully described the effects of electromagnetism. This copy was extracted from the Annales de Chimie et de Physique. Our copy is bound with the article "Analyse des mémoires lus par M. Ampère a l'Académie des sciences, dans les séances des 18 et 25 septembre, des 9 et 30 octobre 1820." A revised version of the two memoires was published in the Annales de chimie et de physique, 2d ser., v. 15, 1820.

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Author:  Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854)
Title/Imprint: Die galvanische Kette : mathematisch bearbeitet
IV, 245, [1] p., [1] leaf of plates ; 20 cm; Bei T.H. Riemann: Berlin , 1827

This is the first publication of Ohm's law, that is, the discovery that the current in an electric circuit is directly proportional to the voltage across the circuit. Ohm's work was ridiculed at first and only received the proper attention later in his life.
Our copy has 5 pages of manuscript notes bound in at the end.

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Author:  Michael Faraday (1791-1867)
Title/Imprint: Experimental researches in electricity
viii, 574 p., VIII folded leaves of plates : ill. ; 23 cm; Richard and John Edward Taylor: London , 1839

Ever since Ørsted's discovery in 1820, scientists were trying to find the opposite effect, where magnetism would generate electricity. Finally, in 1831, Faraday achieved success by generating an electric current from electromagnetic induction. This discovery was the first of many of his electrical papers reprinted in this first volume of the classic three-volume set. Each volume was issued separately, so there are three records for this Herald of Science. Our copy of volume 1 has the arms of Sion College, London, on the front cover and their ownership stamp on the title page, verso.

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Author:  Michael Faraday (1791-1867)
Title/Imprint: Experimental researches in electricity, vol. II
viii, 302 p., V leaves of plates (2 folded) : ill. ; 23 cm; Richard and John Edward Taylor: London , 1844

This is the second volume of Herald 64, consisting of additional electrical papers by Faraday reprinted from the Philosophical transactions of 1838-1843, with other electrical papers from the Quarterly journal of science and Philosophical magazine. Our copy of volume II has the arms of Sion College, London, on the front cover. Our copy is also apparently lacking a leaf before the title page.

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Author:  Michael Faraday (1791-1867)
Title/Imprint: Experimental researches in electricity, vol. III
viii, 588 p., IV leaves of plates (3 folded) : ill. ; 23 cm; Richard Taylor and William Francis: London , 1855

This is the third volume of Herald 64, consisting of additional electrical papers by Faraday reprinted from the Philosophical transactions of 1846-1852 with other electrical papers from the Proceedings of the Royal Institution and Philosophical magazine. This volume was probably issued simultaneously with the B. Quaritch reprints of the 1839 and 1844 volumes; Our copy of volume 3 has the ownership stamp on the title page of "Prof. Ernst Mach" and is part of a set of all three volumes, of which the first two are the Quaritch reprints.

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Author:  Joseph Henry (1797-1878)
Title/Imprint: On the influence of a spiral conductor in increasing the intensity of electricity from a galvanic arrangement of a single pair
[1], [540]-548 p. ; 22 cm; London , 1837

Henry was working on electromagnetic induction at the same time as Faraday and was the first to actually observe electric self-induction, but Faraday was the first to publish in 1831 and therefore received credit. Henry went on to become one of the leading American scientists and the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. This article was extracted from Richard Taylor's Scientific Memoirs, vol. 1, part IV. Our copy has a bookplate: "From the Library of Silvanus P. Thompson." There is a portrait print of the author and a bibliographical description laid-in.

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Author:  Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855)
Title/Imprint: Resultate aus den Beobachtungen des Magnetischen Vereins im Jahre 1836-1837
Dieterichschen Buchhandlung: Gottingen , 1836-37

This work is the result of the first worldwide survey of the Earth's magnetic field. Part of the achievement of this research was the construction of the first electric telegraph line.
Bd. 1 of our copy has a manuscript annotation on the front cover: "Royal Society;" a Deutsche Bundesposte stamp of Gauss is mounted on the front paste-down endpaper.
Bd. 1 and 2, are each bound in the original brown paper boards with printed blue paper spine labels; both are housed together in a later brown buckram box, with gilt-lettered spine label, for preservation. While only the first two volumes were listed as Herald 66, the Dibner Library also has a complete set of all six volumes that came from the Scientific Library, United States Patent Office.

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Author:  United States. Dept. of the Treasury
Title/Imprint: Telegraphs for the United States : letter from the Secretary of the Treasury transmitting a report upon the subject of a system of telegraphs for the United States
37, [1] p. : ill. ; 24 cm; Thomas Allen: Washington, DC , 1837

This publication documents the first attempt by Samuel F. B. Morse to interest Congress in establishing an electric telegraph line in the United States. He finally succeeded in getting the funding which allowed him to construct a line from Washington, DC to Baltimore and send the first message on May 24, 1844.

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Author:  James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)
Title/Imprint: A dynamical theory of the electromagnetic field
p. 459-512 : ill. ; 27 cm; The Society: London , 1865

Maxwell published this, his first classic paper on the elctromagnetic field in 1865. He developed the concept of electromagnetic radiation and demonstrated the phenomena of such radiation in a detailed mathematical form. Extracted from: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol.155.

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Author:  Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)
Title/Imprint: Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol.12
pp.1-10; , 1876

Bell was interested in the physiology of speech and became interested in the electrical communication of sound. Encouraged by Joseph Henry, Bell published this article and provided a public demonstration of his new telephone at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. Our copy is bound in a set of the Proceedings of the AAA&S that is part of Bell's personal library.

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Author:  Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
Title/Imprint: Collection of United States patents granted to Thomas A. Edison, 1869-1884, v. 2
2 p., [1] leaf of plates : ill. ; 29 cm; United States Patent Office: Washington, DC , 1880

This patent for the electric lamp was just one of over a thousand produced from the laboratory of Edison. Financed by a wealthy syndicate in 1878, it took less than two years for Edison and Francis Upton to develop a working carbon-filament lamp.
Our copy is bound as the 152nd patent (arranged in chronological and numerical order) in v. 2 of: Edison, Thomas A. Collection of United States patents granted to Thomas A. Edison, 1869-1884. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Patent Office, 1869-1884. These were all bound together subsequent to publication. Our copy was formerly part of the William J. Hammer Scientific Collection; the volume in which this patent is contained was inscribed and presented to Hammer by Thomas A. Edison.

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Author:  Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894)
Title/Imprint: Ueber sehr schnelle electrische Schwingungen
p. [421]-448, [2], [1] folded leaf of plates : ill. ; 23 cm; Metzger & Wittig: Leipzig , 1887

With this paper, Hertz produced electromagnetic waves and demonstrated that light and heat are forms of electromagnetic radiation. Extracted from Annalen der Physik, vol. 31.

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Author:  Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937)
Title/Imprint: Improvements in apparatus employed in wireless telegraphy
3, [1] p., [1] folded leaf of plates : ill. ; 30 cm; Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, by Malcomson & Co., Ltd.: Redhill , 1899

Marconi began experimenting with electric wireless communication in 1894 and achieved modest success. This led to his being financially backed and this patent marked his first success at greatly improving the distances of what later became known as radio communication.

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